


Solstice

by kittykat128



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Eventual Smut, F/M, I will update tags as I go, Love at First Sight, POV First Person, Slow Burn, don't be scared of the question mark, eventual angst, i will complete this i promise, jacob and renesmee have sibling relationship, lots of inner monologues if you're into that, takes place a few years after breaking dawn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:29:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26128819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittykat128/pseuds/kittykat128
Summary: Abigail Foster has dreamed about the day when she would be able to leave the small town of Gorham, New Hampshire and travel the world. When a certain family of vampires walks into her outdoor sports shop in the autumn of her twenty-first year, the opportunity finally presents itself - along with the handsomely mysterious Jasper Hale.----*ON INDEFINITE HIATUS*
Relationships: Carlisle Cullen/Esme Cullen, Edward Cullen/Bella Swan, Emmett Cullen/Rosalie Hale, Jasper Hale/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 12





	1. Smother

**Author's Note:**

> First, thank you so much for reading! This is my first fanfic ever, so please let me know what you think, all feedback is appreciated!
> 
> This story is dedicated to my best friend Shaughnessy, who asked me to write this for her. Love you!

If I stand right behind the register of Arthur’s store, the peak of Mount Washington is perfectly framed in the small window above the coat rack. When the clouds are high enough, I stare at it for hours, thinking about all the people that stood in this exact spot and stared at the same hunk of rock. It’s not a long list. Arthur opened this store in the 80’s to serve the growing stream of climbers and other outdoors-people that began flooding into the region to summit the mountain. The professionals usually brought their own gear, but the amateurs and foreigners were always looking for proper boots or carabiners. With no REI for fifty miles in any direction, these people didn’t have much of a choice but to buy Arthur’s overpriced and knock-off equipment. Arthur worked the store on his own for twenty years before retiring and deciding to hire any one that was willing to work the store. I don’t know how many there were before me, but I know I’m his favorite. He tells me so whenever I drop by his house to pick up my checks. He always tries to make small talk, asking about the hikers that pass through. I humor him, but I feel his eyes burning a hole through my shirt, and my pants when I walk away.

When I’m done thinking about the store, I go back hundreds of years, before Gorham was established, before any Europeans knew that North America existed. I imagine the people that lived on this land, how in awe they would have been of this mountain and the weather that it created. In this isolated region on the border of New Hampshire and Vermont, “cloudless” and “sunny” are words rarely used in daily conversation. Days here either end or start in a storm, no matter the time of year. Everyone carries an umbrella and events are never held outside, unless the mayor feels an ache in his joints, which means it’ll be good weather the next day. At least that’s the superstition. I have no idea if it’s accurate.

By the time I get this far in my daydream, a customer has usually wandered in by now. I can immediately tell if they’re going to need help or not. Strangely, I don’t detest that part of the job. Most of them are nice and in good spirits. The mountain air does that to them. It smells so fresh and clean, it’s impossible to treat anyone poorly. The families are my favorite. I can hear them before they even walk into the store, the children excited for the possibilities of new “toys”. Their parents always give me apologetic looks as their kids knock down displays or scream as they play, but I never mind. They remind me of the children I used to babysit when I was in middle school. Sometimes I see them in the grocery store, the same age I was when I met them. It always sends me for a loop, knowing that they’ve changed so much and I’m still… here. 

“What do you wanna do when you grow up, Abby?” They would ask me as we played whatever new board game they just got from the thrift store.

“I don’t know. I want to travel.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to see the world. And knowing how hard it is to leave, getting out of Gorham would be an accomplishment worth celebrating.”

“Oh.” They go back to the game, not interested in the conversation anymore.

So I’m studying the mountain in the window that day in early October. After working here for a year, I know the fissures in the rock like the back of hand. I can tell by the color of the clouds that it will storm later, but I don’t mind. That means Frannie, Luciana, and I can have our bi-weekly movie night tonight. My two housemates work at the combined middle and high school in town and usually stay up late into the night grading papers or writing up lessons plans, but twice a week they put it aside so we can all watch a movie together. We cross all genres, taking full advantage of the three streaming services we share. Luciana picked the film last time, some weird Polish movie about killer, singing mermaids. It was… interesting to say the least. Frannie and I are still adjusting to Luci’s new obsession with foreign arthouse movies. We have a theory that she’s trying to distract herself from the crippling loneliness that has plagued her ever since she graduated college without finding a partner. When she learned she had to come back home and take care of her parents, she knew that she wasn’t going to meet somebody for a long time, so now she only picks movies that don’t remind her of her life here. I can’t say I blame her. Frannie has been insufferable lately. Unlike Luciana and myself, Frannie has been dating the same guy since freshman year of high school. Her and Keldan are symbiotic; whenever they’re together they move as one, always adjusting their positions to suit the other. It’s disgusting to witness. Frannie only wants to watch romances nowadays, so she can daydream about Keldan proposing and whisking her away to his family’s farm twenty minutes away. I honestly don’t know what he’s waiting for, but Keldan gets hung up easily and it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s been deciding between rings for months.

But I don’t want Frannie to go. I love our life together. After growing up together and going to different colleges, then coming back to Gorham, living together has been an experience that I will cherish forever, despite the nights I’ve spent tossing and turning in my too empty bed and the hundreds of times I’ve debated going straight at the stop light where I turn left to go to work to stay on the highway and drive far, far away from this Podunk town. The longing for this purgatory to end makes me cherish it more. I know Luciana and Frannie feel the same way. Whenever we drink too much wine, one of us always starts crying about how we’re gonna miss this when get old and married and have kids. Then we all start crying and it’s a mess of estrogen and snot. 

I could use a good cry tonight, I think. It’s a comfort movie kind of day. Pride & Prejudice sounds nice. Although I don’t think Mr. Darcy is that good looking, Kiera Knightly more than makes up for his shortcomings. 

I’m planning my pitch for Luciana to watch this classic romance when the ring from the door bell breaks my train of thought. I plaster on my smile and look at the customers that walk in. There’s five of them. And from the moment I lay my eyes on the tall blond one in the front, I know that my life will never be the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [I want all that is not mine, I want him but we're not right](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnkzvAXWV-0)
> 
> Follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/kitty_kat128)


	2. Heartbeats

I have never had a boyfriend before. I hooked up with people, just to experience it, to see what everybody as talking about, but I never held hands with someone. I never cuddled into someone because I could. Nor have I felt the urge to. The sad truth is I’ve never met anyone I wanted to date before. Since I came back to Gorham I resigned myself to not finding love until I saved enough money to leave, or Frannie got engaged, or by some miracle Luciana found someone and moved out. I always knew there was a distant deadline to my suffering, which made it easier to get by.

Now I believe that my deadline is today.

There is no other explanation for my reaction when the tall blond one walks into the store. He’s wearing a thin long sleeve with no rain coat, an odd choice. His jeans and hiking shoes look brand new, but I only glance at them before my eyes move back to his face. Bright golden irises. An unnatural color that matches his hair which grazes the tops of his large shoulders. As he opens the door, he turns in my direction and we make eye contact.

 _Oh_.

In that second, I suddenly understood every song, every poem, all those books I was forced to read in school. Jane Eyre, Gatsby, Florentino, all the characters who I thought were pretentious snobs and idiots… add my name to the list, because I knew I would go to the ends of the Earth for this man. And he is still looking at me.

Then he is pushed forward, and another man follows him, larger, brunette. He’s laughing, glancing at me before turning back to his companion. He has the same golden eyes. Also wearing another suspicious few-layered outfit. 

_Who_ are _these people?_

As the two men make their way to the back of the store where the backpacks and shoes are sold, more people come in. This time a couple, a man and woman. Both brunette and pale-skin, I was so struck by their beauty together I almost didn’t notice their eyes. Then a girl runs in after them, strikingly similar but also glaringly different from the couple she obviously belongs to. She has the long hair of the woman, the nose of the man. But she has deep brown eyes, something I normally wouldn’t notice, but amongst a group of yellow-eyes she sticks out like a sore thumb.

But that’s a poor comparison. She could never stick out in a negative manner. She sticks out like a rose above a field of snow, or a bunch of daisies in another wise desolate meadow. I don’t know why I can only think of flower similes.

They’re all wearing one layer, except for the girl who’s dressed like normal people do in fifty degree weather. But what do I know, maybe they’re Canadian and built for the cold. That would make sense with their pale skin.

“Do you like anything, Renesmee?” The woman asks, gesturing to the kid’s shoes. Renesmee touches her hand, looking at her face as if she was speaking.

“Shouldn’t we look at the adult section? That way we don’t have to buy another pair in a month?” The man asks, stroking the hair of who I assume to be his daughter as the woman looks through the boxes of one the pink boots for the correct size. Even from this distance, her wedding ring shines in the fluorescent lights.

So young, I think. They could be the same age as me. But something about their bodies seem fuller somehow, more developed. Maybe they got plastic surgery. Is that a big thing in Canada? I’ve never been, but a lot pass through Gorham. But then again I doubt the kind of people that obsess over their appearance in that way are the same people that would willingly climb a mountain infamous for its thunderstorms. 

“Why don’t you just buy both?” The large brunette asks with his back towards them as he inspects our small selection of bear traps. They’re pretty rare in the state, but after someone saw one go through their trash a few years ago, there was a sudden demand for bear spray and traps, so Arthur decided to cash in. I’ve only seen the most paranoid people buy them, and this guy doesn’t look like the type. But he’s smirking at them like it’s some sort of inside joke only he gets. 

On the other side of the store, the blond looks through the different kinds of jerky we have like deciding which one to buy is the most important decision of his life. I try not to stare, but it’s impossible. I watch his hands pick up each bag from the hook and read the back, considering the calories and ingredients of each one. I’ve never been a hand person before, but I suddenly get the attraction. His hand could wrap around my throat easily. I like that image.

I’m torn from my explicit daydream by the laugh of the girl - Renesmee. It’s like bells, or what I imagined fairies would sound like if they exist. Maybe she is a fairy. She walks around in the boots, testing them out. The couple watch her like she’s their whole world. It’s a complete one-eighty from the exasperated sighs and quick reprimands that I normally witness from parents. It’s unnerving how happy they seem.

When Renesmee finishes her circle of the room, she touches her mother’s hand and gives that same look of communicating without speaking. The woman helps take the shoes off and put them back in the box as her father lifts her up, kissing her cheek. He whispers something in her ear, peering over her shoulder at me. I look down, embarrassed at being caught.

“Okay!” A light voice exclaims. Renesmee drops down to the floor and runs to the large brunette. “Let’s go jump in the leaf piles, Uncle Emmett!”

“Whatever you say, girlie.” Emmett sighs, but he’s smiling as he lets Renesmee pull him out of the store and across the street where several piles of leaves have been maade. For a second, I’m distracted by the sight of the girl jumping high into the air, like she jumped on a small trampoline and into the pile. Emmett yells something at her and turns back to the store, looking directly at me. But it’s not anger or annoyance I see in his eyes. It’s fear.

_“Ahem.”_

Someone clears their throat and I look away from the window. The blonde stands on the other side of the counter. Two shoe boxes stacked on top of each other are placed next to the register. 

“We’re ready to pay, ma’am.”

Ma’am. Oh my God, he’s Southern. There’s just the barest hint of an accent, but in his deep voice it’s exaggerated. I try to suppress a shiver as I take the shoes and scan them. From the corner of my eye I see the couple exit the store. The man gives the blond a strange look as he leaves. Then he turns to me, and I realize it’s sadness. Fear and pity. Such strong emotions for people to have towards me on a visit to a hiking shop.

“That’ll be 148.76 dollars.” I squeak out. I hope my voice doesn’t portray how shaken I am.

He fumbles with his wallet, almost dropping it several times. Before my brain catches up with my mouth I say, “Passing through?”

The man looks at me, smiling. If I knew any better, I would say he looked relived. “No, we just moved here, actually.”

“Oh, where from?”

“A small town in Washington State. You wouldn’t know it.”

“Try me.”

There’s a gleam in his eye as he hands me a platinum credit card. “Forks.”

I take the card, careful not to touch his fingers, and slide it through. “Never heard of it.”

“Told you.”

I press the buttons I need to, the machine taking awhile since Arthur refuses to invest in an upgrade. Insists it adds to the charm of the place.

“You know the large house at the end of Hickory?” He blurts out.

“Yeah… isn’t it run down though? I think I saw a family inside once.”

“We’ve been fixing it up for a few months now. Some people in my family have very… expensive tastes.”

“I can see that.” I say as I study his designer clothing. 

The man chuckles.“Not good at blending in, huh?”

“Maybe next time try wearing a second-hand coat and scuffed up boots? I know my lips are sealed, but other people in town aren’t as polite.”

“I’ll take note of that…” He trails off, asking for my name.

“Abby,” I look down at the card in my hand. “Carlisle?”

He laughs. “No, Carlisle is my father. My name is Jasper.”

“Jasper.” I echo. The receipt gurgles out of the register. I rip it out and grab a pen, handing him the paper he has to sign. He signs slowly, taking his time. His eyelashes are the same shade of gold as his hair. He slides the receipt and pen across the counter.“You want a bag?”, I ask.

“No, thank you.” Jasper puts his wallet away and grabs the shoe boxes, holding them under his arm. He lingers, taking me in. 

“I’ll see you around?” I offer.

He smiles again. His teeth are pearly white. “Yes. I think so.”

And just like that, he’s out the door.

…

It’s not until I’m pulling into the driveway of my house that I realize I’m still not standing behind the counter looking out at Mt. Washington. I finished my shift and drove home on autopilot, it’s a black hole in my memory. That last thing I remember is watching Jasper walk out the door and out of my view. It’s only been a few hours, but already the yellow leaves on the trees seem faded, their color a poor imitation of Jasper’s golden hue. The forests were always my favorite part of living in New Hampshire, and now he ruined them for me. I already hate him.

Keldan’s jeep is parked on the curb, so I know that I’ll have to deal with Frannie and him being all lovey-dovey with each other all night. For some reason this thought is like a knife to my chest. At least I’ll be able to sympathize with Luciana.

The first thing I hear when I walk into my home is Frannie’s laugh. She has a distinct one that roars above everybody else’s and it only comes out when something is really funny. I take my boots off and hang my coat on the rack before going down the step into the living room.

Frannie, Keldan, and Luciana sit on the carpeted floor, playing Spoons. But instead of cutlery, it’s—

“Are you seriously using my Beanie Babies as spoons?” I whine.

“What, we’re making better use of them than you are.” Frannie says, making a show of throwing a purple starred bear high up into the air and catching it.

“They are very content to sit on my bed and watch over me as I sleep.”

“That’s not what I’ve heard.” Luciana interjects.

“Shut up Luci, I blame you too. And Keldan.”

“Hey!” Keldan exclaims.

“What’s for dinner?” I ask as I walk into the tiny kitchen. There’s very little counter space, but in a house of people accustomed to take out, it hasn’t really been a problem.

“Pizza. Should be here any minute now.” Frannie shouts from the other room. I take out a bottle of water from the fridge and gulp it down. When was the last time I ate? Did I bring lunch with me to work? I know I ate toast this morning, I remember because I almost burnt them in our crappy microwave oven. Then I… 

Huh. Guess I forgot to pack lunch. Oh well. I drink more water and eagerly await the meal on its way.

“So what movie did you pick?” Luciana asks me when I walk back into the living room and collapse onto the couch.

“What?”

“For movie night.” Frannie reminds me, not taking her eyes of her cards as they play.

“Oh.” I picked a movie didn’t I? I know I did before… “The strangest people came into the store today.”

“Nudists?” Keldan guesses. Luciana suddenly reaches for a Beanie Baby, Frannie and Keldan following suit. “Damnit.” He looks down at his empty hand.

“No. Not that weird.”

“Hippies?” Frannie asks.

I shake my head. “They were really… pale.”

“How odd.” Frannie deadpans. 

“They had yellow eyes.”

“Contacts?” Luciana suggests.

“No, these were real. And it was a whole family of them. Well, at least three of them were a family. But the other two looked so similar to them…” I trail off, remembering how they all looked the same, but different. Beautiful, in their own way. So beautiful it was off-putting.

“You’re rambling.” Frannie says, breaking me out of my trance.

“These really hot people came into the store, and I got a weird vibe!” I blurt out. They all look at me. “Apparently they’re moving here from Washington State into the house on Hickory.”

“The abandoned one?” asks Keldan.

“Yeah, they’ve been renovating it.”

“I drove past it last week, and I didn’t see any sign of construction.” he says. They’ve stopped playing their game now.

“Really?” I question.

“Not even a hard hat.”

“How could you see a hard hat from the street?” Frannie says.

“Not literally. You know what I mean.”

“I’ll be on the look out for hot people with yellow eyes and pale skin when I go into town tomorrow, Abby.” Luciana says, collecting the cards and putting them back in the box. “Keep you posted.”

“Thanks. Now put my Beanie Babies back on their shelf. You heathens.” I point to my bedroom on the other side of the house as Frannie picks them up and Keldan falls onto the large armchair next to the couch.

 _They just don’t get it_ , I think. They haven’t seen them, so I can’t expect my friends to have the same reaction as I did, especially since I did such a poor job of explaining them. 

“So what are we watching?” Keldan asks.

My mind draws a blank. Then before I realize what I’m saying I blurt out a movie title. Keldan and Luciana glance at each other in surprise. It’s a horror movie, usually not my type, but they don’t say anything. 

The doorbell rings. By the time everyone is situated with their pizza and we found the movie on the correct streaming service, my heart is pounding in double time. I still don’t know why I said this movie, until the main actor comes on screen and it’s so obvious.

He looks just like Jasper. Well, not exactly like him. He was white and had shoulder length blond hair, but that’s where the resemblance stopped. His blue eyes couldn’t hold a candle to Jasper’s. I don’t understand why I feel so passionately about this.

How could I? I’ve never been in love before, or even liked someone. Maybe all my pent up emotions are being let out on this one handsome stranger, and in a few days I’ll go back to normal. Yeah, that’s what this is. Just some hormones letting themselves loose.

By the time the movie is over, I have no idea what transpired. I was in my head, thinking about that family. That girl jumped too high into the air. Maybe she’s a gymnast. They’re small, right? She could’ve been in the Olympics, won a gold medal. I’ve seen a few professional athletes in my time at Arthur’s. They’re usually skiers or snowboarders, but there’s always a first. Her parents were gorgeous though, they belong on a billboard in a perfume advertisement, naked with the text covering the interesting parts. And that large man, Emmett… maybe he’s a bodybuilder, with that size. Maybe they’re all pro athletes and models, here on some sort of joint retreat.

Frannie and Keldan start watching their TV show, but I’m not interested. Nothing seems interesting now, except that family. I want to know everything about them. Why their eyes are yellow. Why their skin looks poreless. Why they moved from one small town to another, all the way across the country.

I get ready for bed, thinking of all the possible answers to these questions. Not until I’m under my sheets do I realize it’s only nine in the evening. I sigh. 

_This boy is going to be the death of me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [one night to be confused, one night to speed up truth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik_BQYbbZ5U)
> 
> Follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/kitty_kat128)


	3. Fade Into You

I don’t see him again for a week. During that time I go to work, watching the streets as I drive in a way that I didn’t before. I start to think that maybe I hallucinated them, or they were ghosts.They sure were white enough for it. But there’s no way I would’ve been able to come up with them. I didn’t know eyes could be that color, or hair that golden until I saw Jasper. 

_Jasper._

I love the way it rolls off my tongue. The soft “j” with the hiss of “s” and the pop of my lips with the “p”. It’s all my favorite sounds together. Or maybe they’re all my favorite sounds now that I’ve heard them in that order. Either way, I can’t stop whispering his name under my breath as I work and try to fall asleep. I know it’s irrational that I should feel such a strong affinity with the name of a boy I’ve only met once, but it feels… right. Like this is how people are _supposed_ to react to him.

Frannie and Luciana are useless. I tried to explain to them what was so special about this family, but they wouldn’t hear of it, insisting I’m just trying to justify a crush.

“You’re just horny, Abby,” Frannie says as she makes dinner. It’s grilled chicken and roasted brussel sprouts tonight. Saturday nights are always my favorite, especially when Frannie is cooking. She developed her craft in college and now prides herself on being the only person in our household who can do more than hard boil an egg and grill a hotdog. She puts this spice on the sprouts that make them taste divine. I’ve tried to discover her secret many times, but she always manages to cover it up. I think she likes being needed. “You don’t need to come up with these fanciful stories to make it seem like more than it is.”

“But I’m not making anything up!” I insist. “This girl literally jumped twice her height into a pile of leaves with a soft landing. And the guy looked back at me like I wasn’t supposed to see it.”

“I thought you already came up with a theory for that.” Frannie walks to the other side of the kitchen and takes out the plates. I stand up from my position against the fridge and start setting the table.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t really explain it. She defied the law of physics, Frannie.” I say as I make sure each place has the right number of utensils. I know Keldan will be joining us by the fourth plate. “Why doesn’t he just move in already.”

“Don’t play dumb Abby, you know why.” Frannie says. She pours the sprouts from the pan into a bowl. I take the chicken on its serving plate to the table.

“But we all know he’s going to do it, so what’s the big deal of having him move in early by a couple of months?”

“ _Months?_ You think he won’t propose for months?” Frannie turns to me, anxious. I roll my eyes.

“Girl, it’s already been months.”

Frannie sighs, lowering her shoulders. “I know. We talk about it practically everyday now.”

I walk over to her, rubbing her back. “So what gives?” I ask softly.

“His parents.” Frannie spits out, picking up the dirty dish ware from her cooking and putting them into the sink with a little more force than necessary. “They think we’re too young.”

“The country bumpkins think that you’re too young to marry?”

“I know, right?” Frannie turns on the sink and fills the dishes with water so the residue won’t stick. “The irony. But apparently they don’t want their son to follow in their footsteps, even though we’ve been together since high school and know what we want to do with our lives, unlike them when they got married. At least ours won’t be a shotgun.”

“You sure?” I joke.

Frannie wipes her hands on the dishtowel and goes to light the scented candle we keep in the kitchen. Ocean waves. It was a souvenir Luciana brought back from a trip to visit her family in California. She wouldn’t shut up about the sun for a week.

“Trust me, Keldan is more paranoid about it then me. He insists on pulling out even when he’s wearing a condom.”

“I’m sorry” I say sincerely.

“Don’t be. He takes care of me in other ways.” Frannie smirks.

“Gross. You took it too far.” I move to the living room, leaving Frannie laughing behind me. “Dinner!” I yell into the empty room. Before I even turn to go back, I can hear Luciana’s socked feet coming down the hallway.

Frannie is already sitting at the head. I sit on her left, and Luciana takes the seat across from me.

“Keldan’s gonna be late, there was some last minute order from way out in the boonies, so we can start.” Frannie explains, but I’m already digging into the brussel sprouts.

Twenty minutes later, we hear the sound of a car pulling up in front of our house. Frannie gets up to get the door for him. I continue my conversation with Luciana about dating apps when the sound of commotion from the front of the house draws our attention.

Keldan rushes into the living room, Frannie tailing behind with a look of confusion on her face. He’s out of breath, like he was running and makes eye contact with me.

I already know.

“I saw them.” He says.

“Who?” Frannie asks.

“The Cullens.” Keldan turns to her. “I went to their house.”

“What?” I gasp.

“We got an order for some lumber, and usually we would’ve just left it for the morning, but they paid extra to have it delivered tonight.” Keldan explains. Frannie leads him to the table and makes him sit down, taking his beanie off and filling his plate with food.

“What did the house look like?” I ask.

“It was… beautiful. It looked nothing like the last time I saw it.” Keldan’s eyes unfocus as he remembers. “They built this wrap-around porch and added these sconces along the wall. Made it look like one of those plantation houses.”

“Why did they need the wood?” Luciana asked, a hint of skepticism in her voice.

“Well, when I got out go the truck this… man walked out of the house-”

“Blond?” I yelp. “Shoulder-length hair?”

“No. It was short, sort of.”

“Oh.” I slump down in my seat.

“He introduced himself as Carlisle and asked that I go down the driveway all the way to end. They’re building an addition in the back.”

“What did he look like?” I ask.

“Like how you described the others. Pale, yellow eyes. Slicked back blond hair. Middle aged, maybe. He looked like a movie star from the forties.”  
“Did you see anyone else?”

“I saw two people in the window. One was definitely a child though.”

“Renesmee.”

“Sure. And this man. But he was darker skinned. Could have been Latino, or Filipino, or Native American.”

“Huh.” Frannie sits back in her seat next to Keldan.

“Anyway, I drive up the road like he told me, and unload the lumber. They already have the shed or whatever plotted out in the ground with flags.” Keldan picks up his fork and devours a few brussel sprouts. We all wait in silence for him to continue. “When I was leaving,” Keldan swallows “Carlisle came back out and gave me this huge tip,” Keldan rubs his hand over his pocket where the bills are folded up, “Thanked me for my work and went back inside. His hand was cold, like they were blasting the A/C in there.”

“Well it is cold outside.” Frannie tries to rationalize.

“No, this was different. It was a little like touching dry ice. It burned.”

“Okay, now you’re making stuff up.” Luciana sighs, going back to her food.

“I swear I’m not.”

“Are you gonna fall for this Carlisle too?” Frannie teases.

“Maybe. He _was_ hot.” Keldan teases. She rolls her eyes.

They start talking about more mundane topics and I space out. An addition means that they’re planning to stay for awhile. And since they only got shoes for the girl, the rest of them are probably all set with hiking gear; they’re not coming to the store anymore. I have to go out of my way to run into them now.

I’m drawn out of my scheming by the sound of dishes clattering in the sink.

“Your turn, Luci.” Frannie says as she clears the table. Keldan slides the rest of the chicken from the large serving plate before she can take it.

“Yeah, yeah.” Luciana types on her phone. I stretch my neck to try and see the screen, but Lucia tilts it away, glaring eat me. “What?” she spits out.

“Nothing. I was just wondering who you were texting.” I say innocently.

“A friend. He came back from taking care of his eccentric uncle in Italy and now wants to meet up.”

Frannie and I lock eyes from across the room, trying to hold back smiles.

“It’s not like that.” Luci explains, but it’s already too late.

“What’s his name?” Frannie asks.

“Stefan.”

“ _Stefan._ ” Frannie and I draw out in unison.

Luci sighs and goes to the sink to start washing. “Why do I tell you guys anything?” She says under her breath.

Frannie and Keldan make their way to her room, their flirtatious whispering echoing from the hallway. I contemplate going to my room, but I don’t want to be alone right now, for I know that I will just spend the time thinking about Jasper and I’m sick of him. I’m sick of his stupid blond eyes and stupid blond hair and stupid veiny forearms. I need a distraction.

I flop onto the couch, picking up the remote and turning it to one of our streaming services to pick a movie I have been eyeing for weeks now. As the familiar opening song begins to play, I hear Luci yell from the kitchen,

“Didn’t you watch that, like, last month?”

“You can never watch _Seven Wives for Seven Brothers_ too many times.” I yell back, before focusing on the movie. It’s been my comfort movie for as long as I can remember, despite its sexist plot and disturbing character motivations. And sure enough, I lose myself in the familiar melodies and romantic acting. By the time the movie is over, I realize it’s close to midnight and I have work at eight the next morning. I rush through my nighttime routine and immediately fall asleep. For the first time since I met him, my last thought isn’t about Jasper.

…

As a couple fights over which kind of bear spray to buy before they go camping, I’m startled by the sound of my phone ringing. No one ever calls me during work, this must be an emergency. My heart skips a beat as I look at Luci’s name on my screen.

“What is it?” I ask.

“They’re _here_.” she whispers.

“Who’s here?”

“The weird pale people. They’re at The Bean right now.”

“What? You see them?” I almost yell. The couple glance at me. I smile and try to act natural. I know it goes against every rule in the retail service book to take a phone call while working, but this _is_ an emergency, so I think I get a break.

“Yeah, I just saw them walk in from across the street. I’m picking up donuts for the faculty meeting.” Luci explains. I instantly know she’s at the little bakery in town.  
“How many?” I whisper, keeping an eye on the couple. They’re back to arguing.

“Like five? The girl’s there with the darker one, two other women, and a man with shoulder-length blond hair.”

My heart skips a beat. “Can you get a picture?”

“I’m not a stalker, Abby.”

“Please? I just… need to know if they’re real. And then we can show Frannie.”

Luci sighs. I already hear the sound of a door opening and cars driving. “Fine. I’ll text them to you.”

“Thanks. You’re the best.” The couple start to make their way towards me. “Okay, I gotta go. Bye.”

“Bye.”

I hang up, sliding my phone into my back pocket before pasting a smile on my face. “Find everything okay?”

“Yes, thank you.” The man says as he puts both cans of spray on the counter. I go through the motions of scanning and pressing the buttons on the register.

“You know you really shouldn’t take phone calls during work.”

I look up at the woman, a pissed off look on her face. “I’m aware, it was a family emergency.”

“Really? It didn’t sound like one.”

“Elaina.” The man warns.

“No, it’s okay.” I tear out the receipt and hand it over for the man to sign. “If you must know, my housemate’s dog just passed away, and she was looking at different paw print mold and picture frame options, and since she’s in the middle of the grieving process, she wanted my input.”

That shuts her up. I take the store’s copy of the receipt as the man takes the bear spray and his partner’s hand to exit the store. She doesn’t look back.

When they’re gone I take out my phone and look at the pictures that Luciana sent me.

Jasper’s not in the first one. I see a blond woman turning away from the counter to face the counter, so I can only see one side of her face, but even through the graininess of the zoom, I can tell that she is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. If I hadn’t met Jasper first, I might have fallen for her. Her golden curls drape down to her waist, her bangs are pulled back into a braided style that looked more fitting for a Grecian noble lady. If I was still going by my model/Olympian theory, she would definitely fall into the category of model.

After I manage to tear my eyes away from her, I noticed that there was another woman beside her, her back to the camera. Her brown hair was cut in a fashionable pixie cut, something I have never seen anyone pull off in real life. But if anyone could, I guess it would be a Cullen. Before I slide to the next picture, I see that she’s is carrying a purse, a purse I’ve seen before. I search my memory and realize I saw it on the runway at New York Fashion Week. Not in person of course, but online afterwards. It stuck with me because it was similar to a purse I already had, and I felt very proud of myself for being ahead of the trend. But now I see one of _them_ wearing the same designer purse. I take this nugget of gold to my treasure trove on the Cullens; they’re rich.

The next picture steals my breath away. It’s Jasper, his hands in his pockets as he stands in line. He’s looking at where the two women stand out of frame, a smirk on his face. A flare of jealousy erupts from my chest and engulfs my whole body. My legs feel molten to the ground and my fingers shake. I know that he’s not with them, for surely he would have mentioned a girlfriend, a wife. But as I look at his eyes — a shade darker than the last time I saw them, but that might be because of the lighting — the feeling fades into nothing. It doesn’t matter whether or not he’s taken. However he’ll have me, that’s what I’ll be.

The last picture is an odd one. I didn’t expect her to take another one after Jasper, but suddenly I’m looking at Renesmee and a man that is obviously not a Cullen. He has tan skin and cropped black hair. Despite the weather, he’s wearing a T-shirt and shorts — maybe he is one of them after all. He’s squatting down to Renesmee, handing her a drink and napkin. She’s smiling, excited for this treat. I wonder how he fits into all this.

After the pictures, Luciana sent one line of text,

_I get it now. You think the other the guy is single? lol_

A new customer walks in, an older man decked out in Patagonia. I place my phone underneath the counter and try to give him my full attention. But I can’t help smiling.

The Cullens are taking over our household, one member at a time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Some kind of night into your darkness, Colors your eyes with what's not there](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lxHzlcDoiE)
> 
> Follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/kitty_kat128)

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/kitty_kat128)


End file.
